Rowden December 2015

There have been and are many ways of winning points in our sport; speed, power, placement, spin, control, feeling and technical/tactical areas, such as serve and 3rd ball or receive and 4th ball. In the women’s game speed and control of speed have always been a priority, along with the ability to use the table and place the ball in different areas. Power and spin more the mainstays of the men’s game have always assumed less importance. But with the introduction of the plastic ball the priorities and methods in women’s play are changing.

Rowden December 2015

The main reason why many athletes aren’t able to take the final step from being really good, to reaching the absolute heights and becoming great, is a matter of rigidity. Performers become locked into certain technical ways of performing and certain tactics and strategies, which work some or most of the time, but not all of the time. But worst of all athletes become locked into patterns of thinking and perception, which do not permit them to change and adapt.

Rowden January 2015

Sugar makes you fat. We should all live by one simple rule: Don’t eat Sugar. Basically our bodies are not designed to consume sugar and unless we cut it out, any dieting or exercising we do is ultimately doomed to failure.

Rowden January 2015

Over the last 50 years or so people’s attitude and approach to food has changed. Aspects such as speed of preparation, presentation and taste have replaced nutritional value as the primary criteria and now override the fundamental considerations of health.

Rowden January 2015

Thousands of Asian women players have been using the fast drive stroke for decades. The hard attack ball is important to their table tennis philosophy. Over the years speed has been the dominant factor in their play and even now if they have to choose between speed and spin it will almost always be the former. It is the European women who try to topspin more and the last one to win a World Singles was Angelica Roseanu 60 years ago in 1955 (and she wasn’t a topspin player).